Guess I got my right of passage as a chicken owner :(

[Soon2BChixMom]

Sorry for your loss, I went through the same recently. Now my run is covered with heavy duty netting as a deterrent. Live and learn, I suppose.

Your run needs to be far more secure. Chicken wire, plastic sheet and netting, none of those things are predator resistant and I fear what might happen if a dog, coyote, raccoon, etc. were to come around. If you and your family aren't really handy and want something premade to build off of, consider getting something like a covered dog kennel and then reinforce it with hardware cloth at least the first few feet up from the bottom, and aproned out. That should provide more security at a reasonable cost with minimal work.

What is the heavy duty netting that you are using?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Maybe it wasn't a hawk, but another bird of prey. Here are the birds of prey in MA according to the MA audubon.
https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/birds/birds-of-prey/about-birds-of-prey

Sorry for your loss.

 

[ehoneybee]

Could've been the Northern Goshawk. It was grey and it's feathers were very smooth.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Our favorite hen was killed by a hawk yesterday. We've been seeing at least one around a lot recently and while we were out the girls got out and one was killed.... We offered her body to the hawk hoping that's enough to keep it away for a while (and to maker her death not in vain). I don't know how often they need to feed but it looks like she has a nest nearby....

Hawks are birds after all and because they are birds that means that hawks need a lot of food compared to most mammals. And don't forget that both sexes raise the hawk chicks and now they seem to have your acquiescence to keep returning time and time again for another chicken dinner, especially since the last hawk forey into your yard has paid off so handsomely.

 

[ehoneybee]

Hawks are birds after all and because they are birds that means that hawks need a lot of food compared to most mammals. And don't forget that both sexes raise the hawk chicks and now they seem to have your acquiescence to keep returning time and time again for another chicken dinner, especially since the last hawk forey into your yard has paid off so handsomely.

Did it backfire to leave it the chicken?

 

[Nuffy]

Could've been the Northern Goshawk. It was grey and it's feathers were very smooth.

Go to Cornell all about birds, they have a great id on size, hunting, and habit for hawks.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... The hawk can't see them from overhead but it was perched on the coop yesterday before it killed her so it definitely now knows there are chickens in there....

Well so much for a hawk dropping down out of the wild blue yonder like a space capsule to snatch a chicken snack. I am only posting this to remind folks that CD disks and mirrors etc. are not a reliable defense against hawk attacks. Despite the name "Goshawk" the Northern Goshawk is in reality a member of the falcon family and these raptors do hunt on the wing. But in any case a good roof of at least some substantial wire over head is the best and only way to protect your hens from over head threats.

 

[ehoneybee]

I think it was a Cooper's hawk. Makes more sense since it's nesting in the neighbor's backyard tree.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Did it backfire to leave it the chicken?

Who knows for sure but at any rate the hawk got to enjoy its reward. And if I were trying to train rover to sit or shake hands I would certainly have a pocket full of kibbles and bits with me to reward the behavior I was trying to encourage. The utility of a dog to protect chickens from hawk attacks is in the dog's ability to attack and maybe kill the hawk on the ground if or when it catches a chicken but hopefully before the hawk can eat enough of the hen to kill her.

 

[ehoneybee]

Who knows for sure but at any rate the hawk got to enjoy its reward. And if I were trying to train rover to sit or shake hands I would certainly have a pocket full of kibbles and bits with me to reward the behavior I was trying to encourage. The utility of a dog to protect chickens from hawk attacks is in the dog's ability to attack and maybe kill the hawk on the ground if or when it catches a chicken but hopefully before the hawk can eat enough of the hen to kill her.

I thought maybe just the presence of a dog would be a deterrent?